[Minsc]

Originally Posted by trekr5

I'm teaching myself PhP/mySQl. How long would it take to become really good at it?

Depends on the other languages you used and for how long(and mostly programming in general)..

You'd definately be good at it after three years...

Once you know one language, you won't have much trouble learning another.

Techno music will also make you more productive...
And there's 40 charecters in a line of code. (for me and C++ it's very accurate, not sure about other conditions; will help you count lines, but you could just write a program to do that(although PHP would be a pretty bad choice but I've never used it from the command line))

Also do you know of good online resources that I can use?

I'd just learn the syntax and use it.
php.net will help you learn the syntax, but it might be hard to read.
PHP Tutorial should be easy to read but won't tell you as much as php.net.

Also, you should use a local server to test your stuff.
I'd use: phpdev from firepages - php , mysql , apache preconfigured for windows version 4
Version 5 is sort of screwy...

Then you can go to localhost and get a website to put stuff on.
(you would upload by going to the www subdirectory of phpdev if you use it and putting stuff there)

Is the most intuitive way to learn to think up projects (do some free work for yourself and other people) and practice new skills that way?

That's how you would practice.
To learn it, do that while having some tutorial open to reference.
(there's not much of a differance between learning and practicing)

I've found just reading the book(by rote) and then practicing the commands is pretty boring and doesn't interest me.

You shouldn't be just practicing the commands...
(not quite sure what you mean, though)

Pick a project that you want to write and try to write it.
If you're unable to, you can always restart later, and trying to write it earlier will really help you out then.
Use the book as a referance when you don't know how to do something.
Read about new syntax constructs when they'll help you do something..
(if that's what you're doing right now and it bores you, it's what you'll be doing once you learn the language)

Originally Posted by TechnoGuyRob

I stress, start with personal projects. Doing something for someone else, or for a bigger audience, will make you stress out about things you do wrong. Don't worry! You will notice them yourself and learn to avoid those mistakes in future, or find ways to optimize things.

Although you could probably put them on some PHP code site once you're done if you like them.
(and probably for free)